Motor vehicles have become one of the most popular modes of transportation and for the most part motor vehicles that are currently being sold are for use on land only. In the past there have been some amphibious vehicles designed and built and in particular the 1960's German produced “Amphicar” is one of the most well known amphibious vehicles that had some market success.
The military in particular has always had a need for amphibious vehicles and in particular amphibious vehicles have been used for both troop and equipment transport from water onto the land. The difficulty with amphibious vehicles is that the engineering requirements for adequate performance on land are often contra indicated to the requirements of a water based vehicle and compromises must be made in order to obtain some minimal standard of performance on land and water. One of the major obstacles that amphibious vehicles have faced is the unwanted resistance created by the road wheels immersed in water. Most road vehicles have sophisticated suspension systems allowing from anywhere between 6 to 18 inches of wheel travel within the wheel well in order to absorb major road bumps as the vehicle is travelling over a land surface. As a result when the vehicle is immersed in water, the springs or biassing portion of the suspension tends to push the wheels downward into the water creating a greater obstacle in the water when the vehicle is immersed. In order to overcome this problem, often very expensive and complicated mechanical retractable wheels and other systems have been used to elevate the wheels out of the water. This often leads to very sophisticated and expensive designs which become impracticle.
Amphibious vehicles to date that have had some market success generally have had very poor performance in water. This is likely as a result of the wheel resistance problem in the water and the complicated suspension systems required in order to provide both on land performance as well on water performance.
The inventor believes that the poor performance of amphibious vehicles in water environments has essentially lead to the demise of amphibious vehicles in the eyes of the public. Therefore, it would be desirable to have an amphibious vehicle which had good on road performance as well as on water performance and that would eliminate the on water suspension problems that have existed to date.
One object of this invention is provide for an amphibious vehicle in which the drag created by the road wheels is minimized while yet retaining adequate road performance.
It is another object of this invention to provide for an amphibious vehicle which provides good on road and on water performance in a safe and economical manner.
It is further an object of this invention to provide for a unique amphibious suspension system that minimizes drag, increases safety, decreases manufacturing costs and provides a solution to the long plagued problem of amphibious vehicles.